How to find peace
Today our pastor preached on John 14:23-29. He does a better job explaining than I ever could, but I wanted to share some thoughts (and words) from the sermon that have been stirring in my head today and I needed to put on this digital paper.
So many people in the world, people I know and hear about, are trying so desperately to find their way. They try all the newest fads that come along so that they can find peace and happiness. The truth is that what they are seeking can be found in a book that has been around for a very long time.
John 14:23-24
23 “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.”
Our world goes against so much of what is in the Bible. People think it is old-fashioned and out-dated. They believe it needs modernized. The audacity people have to think the creator of the universe didn’t know what He was talking about! God knew what kind of world we would live in… He wrote these words to give us guidance on how to live here.
Have you read the Bible? Completely? Every word? I encourage you to start if you haven't. It amazes me that each time I read it I find it new and learn more. How can a book that wasn’t the living word of God be read over- and over- and over- again by so many people still be interesting, fresh, and new? The Bible is our instructions. As pastor said today, the Bible is our normal. The world doesn’t get to decide what is normal, God does. Every time mankind thinks they know better than God, it doesn’t end well. You would think we would have learned that by now.
Stop trying to find peace in this world. Stop trying to fit in. There is a different direction you must go to find everlasting peace:
John 14:27
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
This gift of peace is given to the ones who love/trust/hear/listen and obey. Jesus never said it would be easy. In fact, when He followed the Father and obeyed, it cost Him his life on the cross. [John 14:31] Jesus gives us the example to follow… Obey the Father… and He promises us peace. Something the world cannot give.
That is what I am trying to do. I am trying to obey what God has told me. I am taking my family, like Abraham took his, to new place to do whatever I am told to do. Pray for us. Pray that God leads us and we follow even if the world doesn't understand why.